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Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Though this owl cupcake is easy to make, it is very time consuming. However, these are so cute and the kids will love them for sure. When I carried these for my son’s birthday party at School, the kids starting guessing the ingredients and enjoyed eating them so much. In fact, my son said.., whenever the other kids get cupcakes from stores, they scrape off the frosting and then eat the cup cake. But, in my case, most of the kids came to me and said.., they loved the frosting. They even thanked me for such cute cupcakes. So, all my efforts was well worth it. The icing of the cake was.., my son was so proud of his mom and he thanked me personally too.

Back to the recipe. I am not an expert in making cakes or
cupcakes. I have got many requests to show how I made these owl cupcakes for my
son’s birthday. You can customize it according to what is available at hand. Do
not forget to refer the notes section as I am mentioning the alternatives to
most of the items used.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

My son is in “chutney loving phase” now. Gone are
his love for idli, dosa, and other South Indian dishes. He loves eating chutney
now. He wants chutney three times a day and seven days a week. He wants to eat
the chutney with hot rice. I challenge myself to make healthier chutney for him
every other day. So, you can expect a lot of chutney recipes here J

This is one chutney I prepared couple of weeks ago and since
then I have made it thrice already. It is delicious, healthy and easy to make.
It takes about 20 mins to make this chutney.

Add the spinach, cubed bell peppers, slit green chilies,
turmeric and cubed red apples to a sauce pan. Add about a cup of water to it.

Boil the vegetables for 3-4 mins. Add the tamarind, salt, jaggery and
asafoetida to the sauce pan and boil until the vegetables are soft and tender.

Allow the mixture to cool. If you are using frozen coconut,
add the frozen coconut to the vegetable mix and allow to cool.

Once the mixture comes to room temperature, make a coarse
paste of all the ingredients. Do not add too much water. You can add the water
that is used for cooking the spinach and apple. Use water wisely.

Scoop out the paste to a bowl and prepare the tempering.

Heat oil in a small wok. When oil is hot, throw in the
mustard seeds. When mustard seeds crackle, throw in the curry leaves and turn
off the heat.

Add the tempering to the chutney.

Mix well and serve it hot with rice or chapathi.

Notes:

I use red delicious apple or Fuji apple (sweeter apple) for
preparing this chutney. If you are using
a sour variety of apple, make sure to use less tamarind and more jaggery.

Coconut oil tempering is perfect for this chutney, however you
are free to use an oil of your choice.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

South Indians are famous for their dosas. We can make dosa with whatever we have at hand. The South Canara and the Malnad region of Karnataka have their own specialties of dosas. They make cucumber dosa, banana dosa, heerekai dosa, neer dosa and this uppu huli dosa regularly for their breakfast.

Uppu translates to salt, huli to sourness. This uppu huli dosa has all the ingredients that you put to your rasam. So, sometimes they put in rasam powder along with the tamarind to prepare this dosa.
This dosa is nutritious and makes a complete meal. It has vegetables, lentils and rice. Perfect one pot meal kinda dish. You can eat it with butter, ghee, a mild chutney/dip or as is :)

There are two ways in which mom-in-law prepares this. One with the normal dosa batter that she has handy or by grinding soaked rice, toor dal and roasted spices. I am showing you guys the first and the easy one here. Do not forget to refer notes. I have some important tips for you there!

Method:
Add oil to a small sauce pan and roast all the ingredients(except coconut and tamarind extract) mentioned for the spice paste until golden brown. Add the asafoetida towards the end.

Allow the spices to cool. Once cool blend all the spices along with coconut and tamarind extract to a smooth paste. Do not add too much water as the dosa batter will thin down.

Mix this spice mixture with the dosa batter. Throw in the salt, jaggery and mix.

Wash the spinach thoroughly and chop them fine. Chop the onions too.
Throw in the chopped spinach and onion. Mix well.

Allow the batter to rest for 5-10 mins.
Heat the griddle. Once hot, spoon a laddle full of batter on the griddle and spread it like a dosa. These will be like pancakes, a little thicker. Sprinkle oil on the sides of the dosa. Cook the dosa covered on a low-medium heat on both the sides for a minimum of 45secs to 1 min.
Once the dosa is cooked, serve it hot with a chutney or as is.
Repeat the same with the remaining batter.

It is very important to cook the dosa on a low-medium heat. Because of the jaggery and the spices, the dosa will turn brown and even get burnt easily. So, take your time to cook them. I am stressing again

You could add other leafy vegetables like methi leaves (fenugreek leaves), amaranth leaves, or even cabbage (finely shredded) to make this dosa.

Adjust the salt carefully as the left over dosa batter usually contains salt.

If the left over dosa batter is sour, then add less amount of tamarind. I do not recommend sour dosa batter for this dosa. It is better to have fresh batter.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Menthya Gojju is a Malenadu Specialty. Malenadu is a region of Karnataka State in India. It literally translates to "Rain Land". I belong to this region and I love love love this place. The fog covered mountains, the dense evergreen forest and the misty air are what this region is famous for. The moment I write or think about Malenadu, I literally go to the dreamland. It takes sometime for me to come back to reality.

I wish I could sit near the paddy fields, I wish I could soak in the rain, and I wish I could watch the fog covered, lush green mountains until my heart desires. I wish I go back there soon.......You can search for the Malenadu or Malnad region pictures to believe me.

Now back to the recipe. This side dish can be served with rice, dosa, pundi gatti (unde), idli or chapathi (Indian flat bread).

Method:
Heat oil in a wok or sauce pan. When oil is hot, throw in the channa dal, and urad dal.
Roast the dals on a low-medium heat until they turn slightly golden brown. This will take about 4-5 mins
Add the fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and roast again for couple of minutes.
Break the dry red chili and add it to the wok. Roast again until the raw smell of the chili is gone and chilis are nicely roasted.

Turn off the heat and allow it to cool.
Once cool, grind the roasted spices along with coconut, jaggery, salt, and tamarind extract. Add little water at a time to make a smooth but thick paste.
Scoop the chutney/dip. Prepare the tempering.
Heat oil in a small wok. When oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds. When seeds crackle, add the cumin seeds. When cumin seeds turn golden brown, throw in the curry leaves and turn off the heat.
Add the asafoetida to the tempering and pour this tempering over the chutney/dip prepared.
Mix it well and serve it.

Notes:

You could adjust the spice according to your needs. I normally add Kashmiri or Byadagi chilies for their color and mild flavor.

You can make this chutney with dry coconut or coconut powder too. Coconut powder is easily available everywhere.

I sometimes add finely chopped onion to this dip. I do not blend the onion, but after the chutney is made, I mix in the raw onion. It tastes very yummy.

Soak the cashew nuts and poppy seeds in water for 30-45 mins.
Add about 1 cup of water, salt and a pinch of turmeric to the chopped vegetables. Boil the vegetables until they are cooked and yet firm.

Make a smooth paste of poppy seeds, cashew nuts and sesame seeds.
To that paste, add grated coconut, green chili, coriander leaves, onion, ginger and garlic. Add little water and make a smooth spice paste.

Heat oil in a wok or sauce pan. When oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds and cumin seeds.
When seeds crackle, add the curry leaves and finely chopped onion. Saute till the onion becomes translucent and cooked.
To the same pan, add the spice paste and a pinch of turmeric. Cook the spice paste on a low-medium heat for 5 mins. This is to ensure that the spices are properly cooked and there is no raw smell. Keep stirring as the spice paste thickens very fast and can burn easily.
Meantime, make a puree out of the tomatoes. You could blanch the tomatoes, if needed. I normally do not blanch it for this recipe.
When the spices are cooked, throw in the red chili powder and mix.
Add the tomato puree and cook further for 3-4 mins. Ensure the tomatoes are properly cooked.
To this, add the boiled vegetables along with the water. Adjust the salt. Add kitchen king masala and milk.

Boil the kurma for another 7-10 mins until the spices are well blended with the vegetables.
Serve the kurma hot with roti, poori, chapathi or rice.

Notes:
The vegetables that I normally use are green beans (French beans), carrots, potato, chayote squash, and green peas or any other legumes.
Instead of cashew nuts, you could use almond meal or putani/daliya (roasted channa dal).
I have an another vegetable saagu recipe here.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

I have been making these garlic rolls for more than 3 years now and it is a huge hit at parties and potlucks. I avoid making breads and buns because of the efforts needed to knead the dough. However these are a breeze to make. The garlic pull apart rolls doesn't need kneading. It looks good, tastes good and you get compliments for making these. What else do you need? Hope I inspired you guys to try them at home. If I can, I am sure you all can too.Preparation Time: 5 minsBaking Time: 25-30 minsMakes : 16 rollsRecipe Source: MySingaporeKitchen

Method:
Bring the butter to room temperature
First important thing is to proof the yeast. Add salt, and sugar to the warm water and mix.
Sprinkle the yeast on the warm water and gently mix. Keep the yeast mixture aside on a warm place for 5-7 mins (I always keep it in my oven with the oven lights ON). The yeast will froth and become goo-ey.

Meantime, sieve the AP flour.
Add the frothy yeast mixture to the AP flour and mix well. I let my food processor do it for me.
Add a tbsp of olive oil and knead for 2-3 mins (just like you knead the atta to make chapathi).
Coat the oil on the dough and cover it with a damp kitchen towel. Keep the covered dough in a warm place for 1 hour. The dough would have doubled in 60 mins.

During the dough resting time, prepare the garlic spread. Mash the room temperature butter well.
Grate the garlic cloves and add the grated garlic, salt (refer notes), coriander leaves to the mashed butter. Mix in well and let it rest.

After the dough has doubled, remove the damp kitchen towel and punch the dough back. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts.

Take one of the dough balls, dust the kitchen table and start rolling the dough.
Make a slightly rectangular shape (about 6-8 inches long).
Take about 1 tbsp of garlic spread and spread it over the rolled dough. Roll it and cut them into 4 equal sizes.

Place the rolls on a greased baking tray. Keep the rolls 1/2 inch apart from each other. The dough will rise again and will stick to each other.

Repeat the same procedure with the remaining dough balls. You will get 16 rolls. Spread the garlic butter on top of the rolls. Garnish with sesame seeds (optional) and allow the rolls to rise again for 30 mins.
After 20 mins of resting, preheat the oven to 350F or 180C.
Bake the rolls for 25-30 mins. Keep a close watch after 20 mins. The rolls will start turning golden brown..
Allow the rolls to cool for 20-30 mins and dig in!!

Notes:
Yeast plays an important role to make any bread. So, it is very important to proof the yeast first. If the yeast doesn't become frothy, start it all over again or get a new batch of yeast.
I keep my yeast in the freezer for up to couple of years without any issue.
You could use about 2 tsp of yeast and allow it to rise for 1.5 or more hours.
Use about 100 grams or 1/4 cup of softened butter. If you use salted butter to make the garlic spread, do not use additional salt. I normally use unsalted butter, hence add about 1/2 tsp of salt to make the spread.